Note: If you don't see the "Start" button after the page was fully loaded
than your browser has no Java support enabled. I wrote the applet in a very basic version
of Java (AWT 1.1) to ensure it will run with any OS and all modern browsers. I'll be very thankful
for any remarks concerning compatibility. I'll be also thankful for confirming
that the applet worked in your environment. As usual, all suggestions for
extending the applet are welcome.

How to use the applet

Press "Start/stop" button or <Enter> key to run
/ terminate the animation.

Press "Step" button or <Space> key to run only one
cycle of the animation.

Use the "Slower" and "Faster" buttons to adjust the animation
speed.

Press <+> / <-> keys (or small +/- buttons on a horizontal scrollbar) to
zoom the universe in / out.

Press arrow keys (or use scrollbars) to pan
the universe.

Press <F> key (or a small "F" button on a horizontal scrollbar) to
fit the pattern (by zooming) in the current
window.

Use the left-top Choice control to pick one of 11 available families
of rules.

Use the Choice control below to pick the desired rule.
The list contains only rules available in the currently selected game. The definition of
the selected rule is shown directly below the Choice.

Use the "?" button to the left of the Choice to enter your own rule you'd like to experiment with.

Use the "Patterns library" button to open the window with a list of
patterns available for the active rule.

Use the bottom "Wrap" checkbox to switch on/off the toroidal
universe. When the option is on, cells treat cells on the opposite side of the
universe as neighbors and dont die at the edges.

Two labels, "Cycle" and "Population" show dynamically the
progress of the running pattern. Select the
File/Info... option to see more detailed information.

Use the "Board" menu options to change the size
of the board and of cells.

Use the "Refresh step" options
in "Animation" menu to control how often the board is redisplayed. Especially
useful is the "Refresh every full page" option when running 1D rules.

Check the "Add" checkbox to add new cells to an existing pattern. Uncheck it
if you want randomizing and seeding to clear the universe before adding cells.

Check the "Mono" checkbox to randomize using only state 1. If the checkbox is
unchecked, all states will be used.

Check the "Uni" checkbox to distribute all states uniformly.
The checkbox is active only when "Mono" is unchecked.

Select the desired density and press "Rand" to randomly
fill the board. The choice is active only when no uniform randomizing is
selected.

Select the desired shape and press "Seed" to initialize
the board with one of the predefined primitive patterns.

Press "Clear" to remove all cells
from the board.

Use the "View" menu items to show/hide
user interface elements.

"Colors" menu items: "Count of states" and "Coloring mode"
are enabled only in rules with no history.
To see their meaning try for example the "Flakes" rule from the "Life"
family. Set count of colors to 25 and use Seed FRM80x80. Now run this pattern (a frame
80x80 cells big) once with standard and once with the alternate coloring.

"Active state" options allow setting the state that will be used
for drawing the pattern. Activate the state 0 to erase cells. Remember about
<]> and <[> shortcuts that allow quick selection of the next and
the previous state.

To change the color scheme select different color palettes
available in the "Colors" menu.

Keyboard shortcuts

<Enter> - start / stop the animation

<Space> - run one cycle

<+>, <-> - zoom in / out

<*>, </> - run faster / slower

<Arrow keys> - panning

<[>, <]> - activate the previous / next state (color)

<F1> - show the "About..." box

<A> - toggle adding flag for randomizing / seeding

<C> - clear the board

<F> - fit the pattern in the current window

<G> - toggle displaying the grid

<I> - show the "Info..." box

<D> - show the description of the currently loaded pattern

<R> - fill the board randomly using selected settings

<S> - seed the board using selected settings

<W> - toggle wrapping at edges

Other recommended Cellular Automata applets

Cellsprings
A powerful Cellular Automata Java applet by John Elliott. The applet handles many
types of CAs and contains sets of patterns for each rule. Users can also experiment with
new rules, and (new!) save rules and patterns to the server.

Alan Hensel's Life applet
The fastest Java applet ever written. It plays different rules in the Conway's Life family
and contains a large collection of Life patterns.